K is for Kindergarten (and other letters are for other things)

I finally rediscovered my long lost blog.

Ok, it wasn't lost. I failed miserably at being a blogger. Want to know why? Well first,  Summer ended and that meant that things get crazy as a teacher for the beginning of the year. The last time my blog followers (all five of you, haha) heard from me, I was a substitute teacher with a new house, a plumber husband and a ridiculously huge tent.

Boy, have things changed! Don't fret, the tent part is the same. And the house. But here are the recent* happenings. *By recent, I mean in the last year.

1) I became a kindergarten teacher. Yeah, me. I teach kindergarten. Let's be honest. If any of you asked me a year ago what grade I wanted to teach you probably heard the words "not kindergarten" come out of my mouth first. God has a sense of humor, though, doesn't He? He provided an opportunity for me to step into a half day PM kindergarten teaching position about two weeks after school started. I would be sharing a classroom with another half day teacher, and working with another full day Kindergarten teacher. Within the first week of my teaching half day, the AM teacher took a job at another school....so I inherited an AM class too! So I went from subbing to half day kindergarten to full day kindergarten in a matter of 10 days or so. Whew! What a whirlwind that was. My learning curve was more drastic than you ever could have imagined. AND I LOVE KINDERGARTEN. They seriously rock my world. Those little 5 and 6 year olds are a blessing to me each and every day. With only 10 days of school left in our school year, I'm wondering where the time has gone, but I wouldn't choose another grade for my first year as a full time teacher.

2) We got a dog. His name is Jeff. He lights up my life. He's a Border Collie mix (said the Humane Society) and we got him when he was 2 months old:

The poor little guy came to Portland from California, got fixed, saw his brother get adopted, and got adopted himself within a few days. Along with all that, this little pup had kennel cough too. When we saw him he just wanted to nuzzle our hands, and we couldn't pass him up. I wanted him bad. Now he's almost a year old:

His ears don't flop over as much anymore...the right one sticks straight up and the left only flops a little (sometimes forward, sometimes backward). He likes to sit on the back of the couch and watch out the window, steal my spot in bed when I get up in the morning, cuddle while I watch TV, go on walks, play with the neighbor dog, dig under the fence to get her, chew toys, "roll over," eat ice, jump on people when they walk through the door (we're working on that one), ride in the car, poop where we just picked it up, and wrestle with Dad (Josh). He wants to be a good boy, but sometimes he forgets what that looks like, and I think he loves us as unconditionally as we love him.

3) Josh became not only a journeyman plumber, but a business owner. That's right, meet Cameron Contractors, LLC. If I was any more proud of my husband, I might burst. He has worked is little booty off getting this thing going. Man-oh-man, I don't know how he does it. He get s a vision, and he finds a way to make it happen. If only I had that kind of drive... And he got his General Contractors license, so he can do so much! Seriously, if you're looking for someone to do some work for you - from plumbing to remodels - Josh is your guy! And if you get him in the summer time, you might be lucky enough to get some work from me too. I make a great apprentice for him :)

That's all the updating I have for now. Josh is on his way home, and he's taking me to sushi....YES! I love that man.

Oh, and I got a sewing machine, but it's report card time and my brain has officially fried at this point, so I'm done sharing :)

B is for Books

4 Books 
*I'm choosing 4 that I think can be beneficial to anyone. Really, give them a try :)

1) The Bible. I know it sounds cliche, but it's my lifeline. It didn't used to be, but as I get older, I realize I learn so much from it.

2) Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. 

3) Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

4) Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

F is for Foods

5 Foods

1) Sushi. I love love love LOVE sushi. So much.

2) Mexican. Authentic or not, I love it the same.

3) Spaghetti. It's my go-to when I don't know what else to make.

4) Steak.

5) 

W is for Wants, P is for Places

So this time, not posting on the right day is really silly, because I actually had it done a day early. Oh well.... Here are Days 4 and 5 (together).

7 Wants

1) To love and be loved.

2) To be successful. Whatever that means.

3) An office space in my house. We're working on it, and I promise, I'll post pictures of the process and finished product.

4) Green grass. Our's is currently brownish, with thousands of weeds. We're working on that too.

5) To go on a shopping spree. If only money grew on trees.

6) To be healthier. I somehow lost sight of what is important to me in the past few years: mentally, physically, emotionally. But, good news, I'm working on that too. Slowly but surely I'm getting back on track.

7) A dog. Preferably one like this:

Photo borrowed from Ivy Hill

Pretty Please?

6 Places
1) I'm currently obsessed with my neighborhood. Today my neighborhood had a 4th of July Kids Parade. There were more people in the parade than watching the parade, which made it all the more fantastic. I saw students I used to work with, the Superintendent of Vancouver Public Schools, a principal I've worked with, and my dentist - Dr. Adam, all IN the parade. I also saw the Skinner family, a former co-worker of Josh's, and many others. I think the best was Dr. Adam marching along in the parade, seeing as how he's about 7 feet tall.
2) Salmon Creek Trail is gorgeous and so fun to walk/ride.
3) Maui. I'm missing it like crazy. Josh, let's go back?
4) Seattle. We're coming up on our 2 year anniversary. Josh proposed on the lookout deck at the Space Needle, so it will forever be a special city to us.
5) The Oregon Coast. I love the beach!
6) Portland. Who doesn't love Portland? Plus, I just saw on Kathie Lee and Hoda that it has the most Happy Hours. I think that's what they said anyway. I just remember them being surprised that it was Portland and not somewhere on the East Coast. Obviously they haven't spent much time in P-town.

L is for Loves...and F is for Fears

I failed already at that 10 Day You Challenge...so I'll make up for it by doing Days 2 and 3 in one post.

9 Loves
1) God. With everything I have.
2) My husband, Josh. He is a rock, works ridiculously hard at work (and comes home to work even more most days), and is a Godly man who seeks after the Lord. He's also a loving father who cares deeply for his family and friends.
3) My family...every single one of those crazies! Just kidding, they're not that crazy.
4) My friends.
5) Laughing.
6) The Pacific Northwest.
7) Reading
8) The Olympics...I've been obsessed with the trials these last few weeks. Can't wait for the actual Games to start!
9) Home projects with Josh. I first discovered that I loved remodeling projects when Josh asked me to help him on a couple side jobs he was doing for friends. He taught me to demo, drywall, tile, and all about different tools. I've learned more about plumbing than most 27 year old women will probably ever know in their lifetimes. He and I work ridiculously well together on house projects, and we're so excited to finally have our own house to do projects on. Your own projects are much more fun than others' projects!

8 Fears
1) Being alone. Not alone for a day, but alone for a lifetime.
2) Spiders. I don't know if this is necessarily a fear, but I really really really hate spiders. And I don't usually use the word "hate" because it's a nasty word that's used too much.
3) The dark. Yes, I'm afraid of the dark.
4) Rejection.
5) Losing loved ones.
6) Failing at teaching.
7) Scary movies.
8) Never really knowing myself.

S is for Secrets

Not too long ago, I ran across the Christian wife life blog. I think this blogger, Ashley, is hilarious, inspiring, relate-able, and has some good wisdom. One of her blogs a long long time ago was the 10 Day You Challenge. I'm attempting to do this challenge because I think it would be fun and I might learn a little bit more about myself in the process.

So, here's Day 1 (or Day 10...?)


10 Secrets
1) I wish I was a dancer. I'd go on So You Think You Can Dance.
2) My worst subject in school is History/Social Studies. Funny that as an elementary school teacher, I know have to teach it. I learn about it along with the kids.
3) I love storage containers. I look in the storage container isles, and covet all of it.
4) Josh thinks I'm a good cook, but really, all I do is follow recipes to a T.
5) I hate it when adults wear Disney attire. And adults should never were SpongeBob attire either.
6) I try to seek after the Lord in everything, but it's really difficult, and I often fail
7) When I read, I get so caught up in the stories that I forget I'm not a character in them. Only sometimes. Or a lot.
8) I get motion sickness on swings. Like regular swings on playgrounds that go back and forth.
9) When I have to kill a spider by myself, I think I might vomit.
10) I don't have a hobby. Recently I was asked what I do for fun for myself, and I didn't have an answer. I have no idea what I truly love doing and can't live without. I'm working on figuring that out though.


I guess some of these are more secretive than others, and probably all of my readers (all 4 of them) probably already know all of my "secrets."


Check back tomorrow for 9 loves...

T is for Tent

After perusing through my old blog posts, I noticed that I failed to give the story of finding our monster of a tent, which I promised in C is for Camping.

Last summer (2011), Josh and I were in desperate need of a tent. We were determined to not have to borrow any camping gear for Family Camp, so we researched the crap out of any and all camping gear to find the best deals possible. The only thing we veered from our research on was The Tent. Once you read the story, you'll understand why The Tent has a capital "T."

We don't go to Cabela's often because it is a little spendy for our budget, plus it's not super close to where we live. But, the weekend we went up to Seattle for Josh's graduation* we stopped at Cabela's on the way home. At Cabela's, they have a "Bargain Room" which contains returned items, display items, clearance items, etc. We though to ourselves "Hmm, maybe there'll be a good deal on a tent!" Believe me, there was a good deal on a Tent. We found one that was rolled up and held together with packing tape. Sounds kind of ghetto, but the tag said there were no rips or tears and that the poles were all there. We wanted to know what the Tent looked like, so we asked one of the workers if she could look it up online for us. The tent she looked up (based on the number on the tag) was a pretty decent sized tent, that normally costs about $180. So for $80, we figured it was a great deal, and bought it. Unfortunately, I can't find a picture of that tent she showed us now...

The next day we were at my parents' house celebrating Father's Day. They have a big backyard, the Tent was still in our trunk, and we decided to try setting it up so we weren't surprised when we took it camping. We also wanted to see the actual size and show off our amazing deal to my family. To our surprise, the Tent looked HUGE when we layed it out in the grass. My older brother, Preston, was laughing about how big it was and was telling us he didn't think our Tent was the one we thought.

I should have believed Preston.

I was convinced he was wrong...until we got it put up. That thing is 14 feet by 14 feet, and so tall that my 6'3" husband can't even reach the top when he stands reaching as high as he can. Here's the Tent on the Cabela's site. If you can't tell by the pictures how big it really is, here is a picture of the three of us standing inside. Together.

Josh and Lily showing it off:

I'm almost a little embarrassed at how big it is:

Sorry I doubted you, Preston.

And if you looked at it on the Cabela's site, you'll notice the Tent is normally $239.99. I'd say we got a pretty darn good deal on that Tent, although for as long as we have the Tent, we'll have to make sure that we have a camping site sufficient enough to fit the big blue monster.

We were able to put a queen sized air mattress, a full sized air mattress, and 3 duffel bags...with plenty of room to spare. If it had rained, we would have been able to put our camp chairs in there, too, and play some games or something. Or, if we had more people, we probably could have fit at least another queen size air mattress in there too.

Now do you understand why we got the comments on the size of our tent?


*Josh's graduation was way cooler than mine. It was a dinner graduation, where we got a free steak dinner. You could actually choose from steak, fish, or vegetarian. Of course I chose steak, not knowing that the name tag I would wear the entire time would have a picture of a steak showing everyone there that I'm a red meat eating kind of girl. But even cooler than the free delicious dinner, was a free hotel room. It was actually really nice, so we made a little mini vacay out of it :). And even more cool than that was Josh was chosen as Student of the Year for plumbing. He got a special framed certificate, extra pins on his name tag, and a gift card to....I can't remember, but some place where he could buy more tools. Do you know what I got at mine? A flash drive and a flash light. And we used those lights during the "Passing of the Light of Knowledge" ceremony during our graduation. We turned them on and waved them above our heads. Awesome right? The best part of my graduation? The BBQ we had on the roof of my friend, Tonya's apartment in Seattle. It's literally about a mile from Safeco field, and it has the most amazing view of the field and lots of Seattle.